The Rookies

If filmmakers use posters as a way of nodding to their influences, then the bar for The Rookies seems to be set especially low.

Lame humor and incoherent plotting are among the shortcomings of "The Rookies," an initially engaging but increasingly tedious Chinese action-comedy-thriller that not even kick-ass movie queen Milla Jovovich can breathe much life into.

Utterly forgettable and messy on every level, The Rookies is one of those movies that makes viewers wonder why the filmmakers thought it would be a good idea to get this embarrassing dud made.

There's such passion behind this terrible script that you want to love it.

If exaggeration was a terminal illness, The Rookies would be dead 100 times over.

Tonally, the film is all over the map as it veers between badly executed action thrills and staggeringly unfunny comedic asides.

There're good ideas all around, you can see them desperately poking through, yet there is so no saving the film amid the inconsistency and half-baked aspects.

It's odd that The Rookies, a movie that desperately wants us to laugh, does so much to prevent us from doing so.

This hyperactive Chinese action comedy has a lot of outrageous moments that are fun to watch. They'd be even more fun if they were surrounded by a coherent plot and three-dimensional characters.

As eye candy with a manic spirit, it just might do the trick, especially for viewers coming to the movie with lowered expectations for dramatic satisfaction.